Severe Leaf Curl...is it over??? :(

gssgarden · May 8, 2011

Took these this morning. They are coustralee, Marianna's Peace, and Anna Russian. Went in three weeks ago with no problems. This past week, this started showing up.
NO pesticides or herbacides have been sprayed near them. It's gotten to 8 of 12 plants. I have NO replacements!!

Do I pull them? Wait it out?

Onlt fert they got was some fish emulsion and a little tomato tone at plant out. Also had a drench of Actinovate before plant out.

Thanks,

Greg

**Lee** · May 8, 2011

Greg,

Have you seen any aphids on the plants?

Lee

gssgarden · May 8, 2011

Lee,

Not one!!

No bugs at all.

Were looking great then ..BAM..this stuff.

My neighbors don't take care of their yards at all so chemical drift is really not an option btw.

Greg

frankkj · May 8, 2011

Had very similar if not the same on one of my plants this year. I'll have to go to the garden to check which one it was. The plant grew out of it and has set fruit. I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to pull it, but others are far more knowledgable than I.

Frank

b54red · May 8, 2011

Most of the plants in my garden that had something similar have pulled out of it. I did have to cut some of the stems and many of the central stalks. I gave mine a dose of MG because I didn't think I had much to lose and many improved. A few have not recovered so I will be pulling them soon. The larger the plant the easier it was to recover and the faster the recovery. It hit many of my young seedlings that were outside hardening off and they had the worst of it. I did lose about 10 out of 14 plants in one bed that had just been planted. I'm sure if I had left them all more would have recovered but I lost patience and went ahead and replaced all that were slow in recovering or not improving at all.

Talon1189 · May 8, 2011

Subscribed to this thread

**Lee** · May 8, 2011

Greg,

Can you post a plant shot, and then a garden shot, and then
a yard+ garden shot? Sometimes, that will help us spot
something that's important but may not seem relevant.....

Lee

gssgarden · May 8, 2011

Here they are Lee. Anna russian, Coustralee, and snif....my Shannon's!!

They other two are crammed in another bed and Early Goliath and Big Beef.

b54red · May 8, 2011

That is the way a lot of mine looked a week ago but many are recovering. Bet you are glad to have a couple of Big Beefs out there now.

I took a picture of one of the seedlings that had the severe leaf curl and it has now developed a new sucker that looks healthy. Below is a picture of the whole plant and you can see where I clipped out the central stem. The second photo shows the new healthy sucker.

**carolyn137** · May 8, 2011

Did you raise the plants or buy them, and if the latter what kind of place did you buy them from.

That's not just severe leaf curl it's completely distorted growth as I see it and if I were a betting lady I'd suggest one of the several gemini viruses or even Cucumber Mosaic Virus which has many alternative hosts and is sometimes hard to distinguish from Tobacco Mosaic Virus except TMV is no longer a major problem except in large greenhouse complexes where it' spread manually rather than insect mediated..

Just my opinion of what I see and I've seen pictures like that before and sorry, but the home grower has never come back and said they survived. Always a chance, but......

NCSU has everal excellent websites about tomato diseases in NC. have you looked at them or even TAMU from TX. Links to at least TAMU are in the Problem Solver at the top of this Forum and the NCSU ones can be found by Googling.

And if a Gemini virus there have to be some insect vectors somewhere nearby to have so many plants go down all at once.

gssgarden · May 8, 2011

Thanks Red, to be honest I didn't look at new suckers. I'll look in the am as it's dark now.

Greg

gssgarden · May 8, 2011

Carolyn, I always grow my own from seed. Saved seed by me except the Hybrids.
Will look at NCSU site tonight.

Can the fish emulsion do it? It's about two or three years old.

thanks,

Greg

dice · May 9, 2011

Quote:

Can the fish emulsion do it?

Fish emulsion itself, no. It would have to have been contaminated
with some kind of chemical that has that effect on plants.

Virus, viroid, or herbicide, most likely.

**Lee** · May 9, 2011

Greg,

Nothing ominous that I noticed in your added pictures, so if you haven't noticed
any aphids and there's been no herbicide spread nearby, I'm kind of stumped....

But I'm going to stick with the herbicide damage, as it hit 8 of 12 of your plants...
The year I had CMV, it was only 3~4 among 12~15 that got it. Last year, the
2-4D hit everything it came close to.

I just can't explain how it effected your plants, since you said no herbicide has
been sprayed anywhere......

Lee

gssgarden · May 9, 2011

One thing. If you notice the bottom leaves are ok still. Just the top of the new growth. Hmmmmmm....

Greg

May 8, 2011	#2
Lee Tomatopalooza™ Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NC-Zone 7 Posts: 2,188	Greg, Have you seen any aphids on the plants? Lee __________________ Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad. Cuostralee - The best thing on sliced bread.

May 8, 2011	#4
frankkj Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: Louisiana Posts: 90	Had very similar if not the same on one of my plants this year. I'll have to go to the garden to check which one it was. The plant grew out of it and has set fruit. I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to pull it, but others are far more knowledgable than I. Frank __________________ Old and Wise? Or maybe just getting old?

May 8, 2011	#6
Talon1189 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Farmington, Michigan. Zone 5b/6a Posts: 421	Subscribed to this thread __________________ Always looking for a better way to grow tomatoes ..........

May 8, 2011	#7
Lee Tomatopalooza™ Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NC-Zone 7 Posts: 2,188	Greg, Can you post a plant shot, and then a garden shot, and then a yard+ garden shot? Sometimes, that will help us spot something that's important but may not seem relevant..... Lee __________________ Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad. Cuostralee - The best thing on sliced bread.

May 8, 2011	#10
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Did you raise the plants or buy them, and if the latter what kind of place did you buy them from. That's not just severe leaf curl it's completely distorted growth as I see it and if I were a betting lady I'd suggest one of the several gemini viruses or even Cucumber Mosaic Virus which has many alternative hosts and is sometimes hard to distinguish from Tobacco Mosaic Virus except TMV is no longer a major problem except in large greenhouse complexes where it' spread manually rather than insect mediated.. Just my opinion of what I see and I've seen pictures like that before and sorry, but the home grower has never come back and said they survived. Always a chance, but...... NCSU has everal excellent websites about tomato diseases in NC. have you looked at them or even TAMU from TX. Links to at least TAMU are in the Problem Solver at the top of this Forum and the NCSU ones can be found by Googling. And if a Gemini virus there have to be some insect vectors somewhere nearby to have so many plants go down all at once. __________________ Carolyn

May 8, 2011	#3
gssgarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: N.C. Posts: 1,827	Lee, Not one!! No bugs at all. Were looking great then ..BAM..this stuff. My neighbors don't take care of their yards at all so chemical drift is really not an option btw. Greg

May 8, 2011	#5
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Most of the plants in my garden that had something similar have pulled out of it. I did have to cut some of the stems and many of the central stalks. I gave mine a dose of MG because I didn't think I had much to lose and many improved. A few have not recovered so I will be pulling them soon. The larger the plant the easier it was to recover and the faster the recovery. It hit many of my young seedlings that were outside hardening off and they had the worst of it. I did lose about 10 out of 14 plants in one bed that had just been planted. I'm sure if I had left them all more would have recovered but I lost patience and went ahead and replaced all that were slow in recovering or not improving at all.

May 9, 2011	#14
Lee Tomatopalooza™ Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NC-Zone 7 Posts: 2,188	Greg, Nothing ominous that I noticed in your added pictures, so if you haven't noticed any aphids and there's been no herbicide spread nearby, I'm kind of stumped.... But I'm going to stick with the herbicide damage, as it hit 8 of 12 of your plants... The year I had CMV, it was only 3~4 among 12~15 that got it. Last year, the 2-4D hit everything it came close to. I just can't explain how it effected your plants, since you said no herbicide has been sprayed anywhere...... Lee __________________ Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad. Cuostralee - The best thing on sliced bread.